Storytime: Assault Scene

So I got majorly hit with inspiration for a scene as I was out driving, and the urge got so powerful that I had to pull over and type out a rough draft on Twitter, of all things. When you’re in a car with just a smartphone, you make do.

So I figured I’d port the story over to a more readable format, and do some touch-ups. It’s still just a short scene though. I might incorporate it into a larger story at some point, or I might just leave it as it is. We’ll see. I hope you enjoy.

—

They were under attack. One of the accursed Clan had found them. It was unsure how they had been found, but there was no doubt she was here now. Most of the facility had gone dark as she systematically made her way through it, taking out everything and everyone she came across. They weren’t even sure which one of them she was, or what she had brought with her, as they only caught short glimpses before she took out the cameras. It was sure to be one of the higher-ranking ones, considering her progress.

All they had succeeded in doing was slowing her down while they fortified the command centre, and Commander Darklin was getting desperate. Their attacker was currently tearing into the security bots on the far end of the corridor beyond the reinforced vault door.

They had called for reinforcements, but it would take them a little while to get here even at max speed, since no one had thought the standing force would be so insufficient. Darklin looked over at his two lieutenants: Mosra and Yilwan. They looked understandably nervous. None of them, him included, thought the door would hold very long. Only the guardsmen seemed unaffected, but then again they had basically been bred for this duty. He desperately wished they had more intel.

He was shaken out of his thoughts by a sudden absence of noise. Everyone in the room tensed up and waited for the inevitable. 5 seconds. 10 seconds. 30. Nothing was happening. He knew it was too much to hope that she had gone away, but at least every second she waited meant the reinforcements were getting closer.

There was a huge bang as something slammed into the door, and the whole room shook. The door held though. It hadn’t budged as much as a millimetre, and a slight spark of hope ignited. After that followed a series of scraping noises and thuds as she apparently tested out various weapons on the door. Then came the gunfire, both the stuttering of kinetic weapons and the hum and splash of energy weapons. And after a slight pause there was a massive explosion that nearly shook loose the ceiling lights. The door still held though, and Darklin made a mental note to send a thank-you basket to the manufacturers if they got out of this. It was even equipped with anti-magic charms.

Again it went quiet and Darklin started to wonder if maybe they would last until the reinforcements got here after all. Another 30 seconds passed. Then a whole minute. Mosra opened her mouth as if to say something just as an earth-shattering boom came from the door, followed shortly by another. Everyone in the room jumped, though if it was from the force or from being startled he didn’t want to speculate on right now.

Shortly after they started to hear creaking noises from the door. It took Darklin a few moments to realise that the door was being pulled off its hinges.

“Impossible…” he said in a low voice. The door was making increasingly horrible noises as the metal protested being moved, and the guardsmen took up defencive positions. It was like the scream of a creature from the netherworld. Darklin and the lieutenants took cover and readied their weapons as well. In the end it was a futile protest. After a matter of mere minutes the door was wrenched loose and thrown aside, and it was revealed that she had done it with her bare hands. Claws. Whichever.

They only got a brief glimpse of her, and then her long, brown hair flew out as she burst into action. The guardsmen and their superiors all opened fire, but it didn’t seem to have any effect. He could have sworn at least some of the shots hit her, but she still swirled her large spear around and felled the guardsmen in turn. Everything around her seemed to get destroyed, and Darklin started suspecting that it was deliberate rather than incidental.

As Yilwan got up again to fire he took the spear straight in the throat and dropped like a sack. Darklin cursed and shouted to Mosra to retreat to his office. There were still a few guardsmen standing. They could make it.

They ran for it and kept firing behind them. Just as they were about to get through the door, something long and furry wrapped itself around Mosra’s neck and pulled her back into the room. He could hear her neck snap loudly just before he closed and secured the door.

He took cover behind his desk and started unlocking his collector’s cabinet. Why did he have to secure it quite so firmly? The cacophony of destruction got ever closer to the office, and he figured there couldn’t be anyone left standing. She must be simply thrashing the command centre.

Then the door exploded into shrapnel, and she stepped through quite casually. She was tall and imposing, with icy, blue eyes piercing into him. She was like a force of nature. He could feel something running down his face and saw some blood drip. He must have been struck by the shrapnel.

“Are you crazy?!” he shouted in desperation as she raised her spear, and against all reason she paused. In fact, she lowered the spear and answered him.

“You know… I’ve wondered that myself.” Her warm, soft voice seemed a stark contrast to her actions so far.

“My mind is a curious place, you see. I had… a rough start… in life. I often worry that at some point I snapped. Lost my mind. And maybe the mind I found again was no longer mine? No longer whole? How could I tell? I certainly can’t remember, so-”

A terrible bang interrupted her, and in an instant a sizable hole formed in her chest before her back exploded outward and she was knocked over. A pool of blood formed below her. He hadn’t expected her to give him time to get the hunting rifle. This thing could stop a charging Elkasauras, and apparently Clan leaders as well.

Having fired without any sort of ear protection there was now a terrible ringing in there. Maybe the right ear-drum had burst. No time to worry about that now though. He was shaking from head to toe as he walked out from behind the desk while reloading the rifle. She wasn’t moving or breathing, but he had to make sure. One slug to the head should do it.

He was faster than he thought possible as he got the fresh slug in, took aim and fired. And missed. Her tail knocked the barrel aside, and suddenly she’d got him by the throat and hoisted him into the air. A terrible, yellow light now shone in her eyes, and it was almost like smoke was coming from them.

“That was terribly rude, young man,” she said in a more business-like tone. She spat out blood onto the floor, and he could just barely look down enough to see her wound regrowing.

“I’ve been alive for longer than your family tree has existed, and I’ve certainly had worse than this. Good effort, though. It really hurts.” He attempted to kick her, but it was like kicking a steel wall.